David W. Wilcox, director of the Division of Research and Statistics, to retire at year end

David W. Wilcox, director of the Division of Research and Statistics, will retire at the end of this year after 30 years of service with the Federal Reserve Board, including seven years as the director of the division.

In addition to overseeing the 350 employees of the Division, Wilcox has been responsible for briefing the Federal Open Market Committee on the outlook for the U.S. economy. The Board’s Division of Research and Statistics engages in economic analysis, forecasting, and research related to the domestic economy and financial markets. The Division also conducts several major programs in economic measurement, and provides research and analysis supporting the Federal Reserve’s financial stability responsibilities and supervisory and regulatory activities.

“David’s depth of expertise and wise counsel have helped guide the Federal Reserve through a time of unprecedented challenges,” said Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome H. Powell. “We will miss his prowess as an economist, his leadership in promoting diversity and inclusion in the field of economics, as well as his incomparable wit and good humor.”

During his tenure as director, Wilcox has devoted particular energy to improving diversity and inclusion, both within the economics divisions at the Board and in the economics profession more generally. He has also focused on improving the ability of the Board’s staff to track the current position of the U.S. economy, including through the development of innovative new indicators. Wilcox has served on the Board of Advisors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’s Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute since its inception in early 2017.

Wilcox has served as director under three Chairs of the Federal Reserve: Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen, and Jerome Powell. A search for his successor will begin later this year.

Before being named Division director in July 2011, Wilcox served on the Board staff from 1986 to 1997 in a variety of assignments spanning economic forecasting, economic measurement, monetary policy formulation, and other topics.

During 1994 and 1995, he was detailed to serve on the staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. In 1997, he resigned from the Board staff to serve as assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department. Wilcox returned to the Board staff in 2001 as deputy director of the Division of Research and Statistics. He has published numerous papers and articles in the areas of monetary policy, fiscal policy, household spending and saving behavior, economic forecasting at the Federal Reserve, economic measurement, and defined-benefit pension plans.

Wilcox received his B.A. in mathematics at Williams College in 1980 and his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987.